Article 67: Reasonable Cooking Methods and Causes of Nutrient Loss, Principles for Selecting Supplements (Selection Based on Symptom Identification)

Reasonable cooking methods

The purpose of cooking is to make food easier to digest and absorb, to give it good sensory properties, and to kill any harmful microorganisms that may be present.

Food undergoes a series of physicochemical changes during cooking.

Due to the complexity of food composition and the ever-changing cooking methods, the changes that occur in food during cooking constitute an exceptionally complex and comprehensive physicochemical process.

For example, some nutrients in food can undergo hydrolysis to varying degrees, such as starch becoming dextrin and proteins breaking down into peptides and other smaller molecules.

Furthermore, during heating, the coagulation of proteins, the swelling of starch by adding water, the softening of pectin between plant cells, the disruption of cell membranes, the leaching of water-soluble substances, the volatilization of aromatic substances, and the formation of colored substances can all occur.

Through the above changes, food can be freed from its original fishy and gamey odor, its unpleasant color can be changed, and its pleasant color, aroma, and taste can be added, thus improving its sensory properties.

It also makes food easier to digest and absorb, and improves the utilization rate of nutrients in the body.

Of course, the washing and heating processes used in cooking remove, destroy, or kill any harmful microorganisms or parasite eggs that may be present in the food.

Therefore, the purpose of cooking food can be achieved through the above-mentioned changes.

However, some nutrients may be lost or destroyed during the cooking process.

For example, unstable vitamins can lose their original physiological functions when heated; water-soluble vitamins and inorganic salts can also dissolve into the water during the cutting and washing process, resulting in their loss.

Therefore, in the cooking process, on the one hand, it is necessary to improve the sensory properties and promote digestion and absorption, and on the other hand, it is necessary to try to preserve the original nutrients in the food and avoid damage and loss.

I. Reasons for Nutrient Loss in Food

1. Losses from washing and cutting: Food must be washed before cooking, but there is a big difference between washing before cutting and cutting before washing.

Except for fat-soluble vitamins, inorganic salts and vitamins are soluble in water. When food is wrapped in a skin, washing will not cause the loss of nutrients.

However, once the food is cut, the outer skin is broken, and many nutrients in the juice may be lost with the juice.

At this point, even more juice will be lost during rinsing.

When food is cut, the surface area in contact with air increases, and the chances of oxygen in the air coming into contact with the food also increase. Some vitamins in food will be oxidized and destroyed when they come into contact with oxygen.

Furthermore, the more times rice and meat are washed, the longer they are soaked in water, and the more nutrients dissolved in the water are lost. Some people have the habit of soaking vegetables in water for a long time after cutting them, or even overnight, before cooking them.

Some people blanch the food in boiling water before cooking or stir-frying, then squeeze out the excess water.

These practices result in a significant loss of nutrients in food.

2. Losses during cooking: Various vitamins in food are often destroyed when heated. Therefore, the longer the food is heated when frying or boiling, the more nutrients are destroyed.

The principle of food cooking is that as long as the food is cooked, the heating time should be as short as possible.

Generally speaking, stir-frying over high heat is indeed a better cooking method, as it can minimize the loss of vitamins.

According to experiments, using the "quick stir-frying over high heat" method, ascorbic acid can generally be retained at 60-70%.

Ascorbic acid, thiamine, riboflavin, and other substances are easily destroyed when they come into contact with alkaline substances.

Many people like to add alkali when cooking food, which increases the loss of vitamins during cooking.

Adding alkali has no flavoring effect other than neutralizing acid when steaming buns. In addition, the stronger the alkalinity of food, the less easily inorganic salts are absorbed, which is also a kind of indirect loss.

3. Loss due to diet: Poor eating habits often lead to the loss of nutrients in food.

For example, if you eat the vegetables but discard the soup, the soup contains more vitamins and minerals that dissolve in water than the vegetables. So, not eating the soup means discarding most of the nutrients.

Some people use the "draining rice" method to cook rice, discarding the water from boiling the rice before steaming it again, which also results in the loss of some nutrients. Therefore, it is best to cook rice by simmering or steaming. If you eat drained rice, the rice water should be consumed as a beverage.

II. Proper Cooking

1. Principles to be followed in proper cooking

① Wash vegetables before cutting them, and do not wash them again after cutting. Cook them as soon as possible.

②Do not boil vegetables before stir-frying.

③ Vegetables should not be soaked in water, squeezed for juice, or blanched in boiling water before stir-frying.

④ Do not discard the broth after cooking. Add the vegetables to the boiling water and cook until done. Do not leave them for too long.

⑤ Stir-fry vegetables over high heat for no more than 10 minutes.

⑥ Cook once, eat in one meal.

⑦ Rinse rice and vegetables until they are clean, but do not rinse excessively.

2. Reasonable cooking methods

A small amount of vitamin loss is unavoidable during the cooking process.

As mentioned earlier, the supply of various nutrients is slightly more than the body's actual needs, taking into account the absorption and utilization rate of nutrients in food in the body. However, except for ascorbic acid, the loss during cooking is not taken into account.

The degree of loss during cooking can vary depending on the cooking method.

When calculating the nutrient intake in a diet based on food composition tables, the loss of certain nutrients, especially ascorbic acid, during cooking should be taken into account.

Therefore, when planning meals and evaluating the results of nutrition surveys, it is often difficult to directly estimate the nutrients lost in the diet due to cooking.

In conclusion, a reasonable cooking method should be:

1. Staple foods (mainly rice and noodles)

① When rinsing rice, be gentle and avoid rubbing it vigorously. Minimize the amount of water and the number of times you rinse the rice, generally no more than three times. Avoid rinsing or soaking under running water, and the water temperature should not be too high.

However, in recent years, due to the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, food may be directly or indirectly contaminated. Special attention should be paid to rice contaminated with aflatoxin. Moldy rice grains must be picked out one by one and washed thoroughly. The rice should be washed several times and even treated with alkaline water to remove the toxins.

When preparing rice, it is best to use methods such as steaming or simmering without discarding the rice water.

Eat immediately after cooking, and it is best to finish it all at once, leaving no leftovers.

② When fermenting dough, the amount of alkali added should be appropriate. Too much alkali will destroy vitamins, while too little alkali will reduce the quality of the food and affect its edibility. Therefore, fresh yeast should be used as much as possible to ferment the dough.

When making pasta dishes, steaming or baking should be used, while frying should be avoided.

Don't discard the broth when making noodles or wontons.

2. Side dishes (mainly vegetables): Vegetables should be fresh, stored away from the sun and water, and not chopped too finely (except for fillings). They should be washed before chopping.

When cooking, stir-fry over high heat and do not squeeze out the juice or discard the broth.

When cooking vegetables and meat together, the meat should be cooked until it is half-cooked or fully cooked before adding the vegetables.

Adding a little vinegar when stir-frying, stewing ribs or fish can prevent the destruction of vitamin C in vegetables, and vinegar can help dissolve the calcium in ribs or fish into the soup.

When making soup or stew, add the ingredients to boiling water, but do not cook for too long.

To reduce vitamin loss, an appropriate amount of starch can be added.

Avoid using copper pots and spatulas when cooking vegetables, as this can destroy too much vitamin C.

In addition, the time from cooking to eating should be kept as short as possible.

Selection of supplements and health-preserving dietary therapy

Supplements have excellent restorative properties and can be used to treat diseases and for the recuperation of healthy individuals.

However, no supplement is a panacea; every supplement has its own applicable scope and target group.

Each supplement is only effective for certain deficiency syndromes, while it is often ineffective or even has side effects for other deficiency syndromes.

Therefore, only by choosing the right supplements can you achieve the desired health benefits.

When choosing supplements, one should consider the patient's symptoms and the disease they are suffering from. That is, first determine the type of symptoms based on the patient's symptoms, and then select the supplements that are suitable for that type of symptoms.

Then select several supplements from these that are suitable for your condition.

These supplements, which are suitable for both the symptoms and the disease, represent the best choice.

Differential diagnosis and selection

Supplements are mainly used for deficiency syndromes.

Deficiency syndrome is a manifestation of insufficient vital energy in the body, and it has many different types.

According to their nature, deficiency syndromes can be classified into qi deficiency, blood deficiency, yin deficiency, and yang deficiency; according to their organs, deficiency syndromes can be classified into heart deficiency, lung deficiency, spleen deficiency, stomach deficiency, intestinal deficiency, liver deficiency, and kidney deficiency.

In order to correctly select tonics, it is essential to identify the type of deficiency syndrome.

I. Qi Deficiency

Common symptoms of Qi deficiency include shortness of breath, spontaneous sweating, reluctance to speak, weak voice, pale complexion, fatigue, pale tongue, thin white coating, and weak pulse.

1. Weak heart qi

Main symptoms: palpitations, shortness of breath, which worsen with activity or exertion, fullness or pain in the precordial region, pale complexion, fatigue and weakness, pale tongue, and weak or intermittent pulse.

It can be seen in cardiac neurosis, various organic heart diseases, heart failure, etc.

Treatment: Tonify Qi and nourish the heart.

Selected tonics include: jujubes, sheep heart, lotus seeds, ginseng, American ginseng, codonopsis, schisandra, astragalus, and ganoderma.

2. Lung Qi Deficiency

Main symptoms: weak cough, shortness of breath or wheezing, copious clear and thin phlegm, fatigue, pale complexion, aversion to wind, spontaneous sweating, susceptibility to colds, pale tongue with white coating, and weak and thready pulse.

It can be seen in chronic bronchitis, bronchial asthma, pulmonary tuberculosis, emphysema, lung cancer, etc.

Treatment: Tonify lung qi

Recommended tonics include: crucian carp, ginseng, American ginseng, astragalus, schisandra, codonopsis, yam, ganoderma, and placenta.

3. Weak spleen qi

Main symptoms: sallow complexion, fatigue, reduced appetite, loose stools; or abdominal distension, rectal prolapse, uterine prolapse, cloudy urine; or purplish spots on the skin, hematochezia, metrorrhagia, pale lips and tongue, and weak and thready pulse.

It can be seen in chronic enteritis, chronic dysentery, gastrointestinal dysfunction, intestinal tuberculosis, malnutrition, hepatitis, cirrhosis, visceral ptosis, chronic nephritis, urinary tract infection, urinary tract stones, renal tuberculosis, chyluria, various types of anemia, leukemia, purpura, leukopenia, menstrual disorders, dysfunctional uterine bleeding, leukorrhea, infertility, etc.

Treatment: Tonify Qi and strengthen the spleen, or tonify Qi and lift it up, or tonify the spleen and control blood.

Selected supplements include: bear paw, beef, pork, pork stomach, pigeon meat, chicken, eggs, quail meat, rabbit meat, duck meat, crucian carp, eel, loach, glutinous rice, millet, carrot, chestnut, jujube, lotus seed, peanut, lychee, longan pulp, ginseng, astragalus, codonopsis, atractylodes macrocephala, yam, lingzhi, honey, etc.

4. Weak stomach qi

Main symptoms: a feeling of fullness or dull pain in the stomach, which is relieved by pressing or eating; belching and nausea; poor appetite; pale tongue with a white coating; and a weak and thready pulse.

It can be seen in chronic gastritis, peptic ulcer disease, gastroptosis, and gastric neurosis.

Treatment: Tonify Qi and strengthen the middle Jiao.

Recommended tonics include: pork stomach, chicken, loach, crucian carp, pigeon meat, bird's nest, chestnuts, peanuts, jujubes, white sugar, American ginseng, codonopsis, atractylodes macrocephala, and ganoderma lucidum.

5. Kidney Qi Deficiency

Main symptoms: soreness and weakness in the lower back and legs, frequent and clear urination, dribbling after urination, bedwetting, incontinence; or seminal emission, premature ejaculation; or shortness of breath, which worsens with activity, even with open mouth and raised shoulders, palpitations, spontaneous sweating, pale tongue with white coating, and deep and slow pulse.

It can be seen in chronic nephritis, urinary tract infection, urinary tract stones, renal tuberculosis, renal cancer, urinary incontinence, enuresis, diabetes insipidus, sexual neurosis, emphysema, pulmonary heart disease, paraplegia, etc.

Treatment methods: tonify the kidneys to reduce urination, or tonify the kidneys to astringe semen, or tonify the kidneys to promote the absorption of qi.

Recommended tonics include: pork kidney, chicken, chicken intestines, quail meat, loach, chestnuts, lotus seeds, walnuts, yam, and schisandra berries.